Graves still haunted by WWII

"It haunts me yet," said Robert "Bob" Graves, of some of his experiences in World War II . As a 19-year-old in 1943, he had one of the most dangerous jobs in the war: disarming bombs and other demolitions, both American and the enemys.

Chuckling, he said, "If it hadnt been for the Air Force I wouldnt have had a job." Frequently, after a bomb run by American planes, there were duds on the ground, bombs that hadnt exploded. Graves job was to go in and make certain the bombs wouldnt explode as American troops covered the ground on their way to the front lines. Sometimes he would intentionally explode them, other times defuse them. He often worked alone under enemy fire, ahead of the infantry.

It was not only dangerous work, but exhausting, both physically and mentally. "At times we would be working 24 hours a day," Graves recalled. His unit was the 113th Ordnance Bomb Disposal Squad (BD). According to an Army newspaper clipping near the end of the war, "Since D-day, bomb disposal personnel have removed an average of three-and-a-half tons of munitions and unexploded bombs per man per month. About 1,600 tons of explosives were removed from Paris alone."

The clipping went on to explain that the bomb disposal men ". . . were among the Armys most highly trained specialists, and had to be able to recognize and deactivate between 200 and 300 German fuses, and about 200 types of artillery fuses of all nationalities."

Defusing bombs and other explosives was not on Graves mind when he graduated from Midland High School (he was in the second class to graduate from what is now Central Middle School). After basic training he was sent to the automotive school at Aberdeen Proving Grounds in Maryland and learned to drive every vehicle the Army used except tanks.

"One day I got called before a board who told me I was slated for Judge Advocate General (JAG) School." Acting as though he had a choice, Graves told them he wasnt interested. Asked what he would like to do, he replied, "Something exciting!"

Apparently he did have a choice. "The next day I was told to pack and get ready for my next assignment," said Graves. He and 20 others were picked up around the camp, and above the next entrance they passed through was a sign that read, "You are Entering Bomb Disposal Area: Off Limits."

"That was on a Friday, and we were ready to go over the hill," Graves said. "Every day we would hear about people in the bomb disposal unit being killed doing their job." As though mind-readers, their superiors wouldnt allow them to leave their barracks without supervision. They were even marched to and from the mess hall as a unit. Fourteen weeks later, Graves was ready for his first assignment.

"My first job was to defuse a depth charge that was dropped in a corn field instead of Chesapeake Bay," he recalled. After a period of time, he found it and successfully disarmed it.

That would not be his last assignment while still in the States. He and his captain once disarmed a block buster bomb that failed to detonate while being tested.

"We looked at that huge thing in awe," said Graves. After a great deal of consultation, the two managed to disarm the fuse. "It was scary," he recalled, "and as we began, we looked around and realized we were alone."

At this point, Graves was invited to attend Officers Training "I know if I did I would be sent to the infantry," he said. "The infantry guys just never got the credit they deserved. They did all the dirty work, and were shot at constantly." Holding his right hand to his forehead he said, "I have to give them a big salute."

Graves admits that his job with the military made him a loner most of his life. "I just never learned to depend on others because what I did I could only depend on myself," he says.

After a year at Aberdeen Proving Grounds, and with minimal experience, Graves was shipped to Europe in August 1944 aboard the Queen Mary along with 5,000 other troops.

When they arrived in Scotland, 3-1/2 days later, they were herded onto train cars to England. They crossed the English Channel on LSDs and disembarked on Omaha Beach. The beach had been a part of the D-day invasion two months earlier.

"That was the beginning of trying times," Graves recalled. "When I saw all that destruction, walked up that hill and saw all those crosses (where GIs had been buried following the invasion)…" He hesitated, trying to choke back the memory. "Its a sight Ill never forget."

After picking up their equipment, and assigned to General Pattons 3rd Army, the troops headed for Paris where Graves was reassigned to the 65th Infantry Division. That was the beginning of eleven months in a war zone for Graves.

"The hardest jobs to do were the German bombs," Graves said, "because they were electrically charged when dropped. Others had a time clock."

Graves also mentioned that some German bombs had what was called a "Z40." It was designed to blow if removed. He was armed with a microphone attached to an ear phone to detect anything ticking inside the bomb.

"When trying to remove the fuse and it started ticking, I would take off and come back two days later," said Graves. "If it was still there, I would detonate it."

Graves had a similar situation on the Red Ball Express Road in Germany. He was told to defuse the bomb and not blow it because it would damage the road and disrupt the flow of needed supplies for the troops.

"I offered them my equipment and told them to do it themselves. I just didnt feel safe removing that fuse."

Graves got his way, blew up the bomb, and the engineers were called in to repair the huge hole in the road.

"Thank God, the Germans had very few duds in my area," Graves said. "They were very complicated. American bombs were simple to defuse. If everything looked OK, I merely defused them. If not, I blew them up."

In describing the Battle of the Bulge, Graves said, "It was a mess. We came upon a couple concentration camps and they were terrible. Today they still haunt me." He chose not to go into detail.

"But I would check out the area for mines and bombs before the troops would proceed. I did just enough for safe passage and somebody else would clean up the area."

Graves recalls the Germans had a myriad of ordnance. One deadly one was called the Bouncing Betty. "It used a trip wire," Graves said. "If walking along and you tripped the wire, the Betty would pop in the air six feet and shower you with steel balls. So when you heard the sound of it going up, you hit the ground right now!"

The Germans were clever in other ways as well, according to Graves. "They began making shoe mines from wood and plastic, so our metal detectors wouldnt pick them up. They were called shoe mines because they were just powerful enough to blow a mans foot off."

Also, the enemy often would plant one land mine on top of another, attached by a wire. The wire would detonate both mines. When a mine was found, he had to make certain there wasnt another underneath.

"On the other hand," he said, "the Germans always laid out a mine field in the same pattern. Once you found one it was easy to figure out after that."

Into the interview this writer asked, "Was there ever a time when you knew you had killed another man?"

Graves looked up from his notes, and replied slowly: "Yes."

A tear formed in the corner of his eye as he waved off the question. "Sometimes my memory is too good," he said, staring off into the room. The questioning immediately took another track.

Graves received assignments anywhere he was needed, all over Europe.

"My last job was to go to Ens, Austria to check out a bridge over the Elbe River," he said. "I arrived early in the morning and could hear action that seemed quite close, so I asked a few of our troops there to cover me."

He found explosives under the bridge and disarmed them. Around noon, he recalled, German soldiers began crossing the river in his direction. "They wanted to surrender because the Russians were after them. The Russians came along soon, but nothing happened. It was V-E Day in Europe, and I would soon be going home."

Like many GIs, Graves had his lighter days too. "Near the end of the war there was a brewery in Germany that had been shut down due to artillery shelling," he said with a grin, "and my job was to go in and remove the duds so they could open it up and supply our troops with good old German beer."

Chuckling, Graves continued, "I took my time, and when I left each day I filled five gallon water cans with beer and took them to the infantry." He became very popular.

After a few days the duds had been removed. Men by the truckload came to the brewery to fill their water cans, according to Graves. "I never had to wait in line."

Smiling he added, "The Maps recognized my jeep with the red fenders and BD. on the front. But the vats were soon drained."

At another time Graves was called to an artillery unit to check out a building that contained dynamite. "There was about two tons of it there," he recalled, "and nitro (another dangerous explosive) was leaking all over the floor."

He knew the artillery unit was on the opposite side of the river, so it would be safe just to blow up the building. He explained to the commanding officer that it would be too dangerous to move the dynamite. "I told him it wouldnt do much damage," Graves said, grinning sheepishly.

The building went, along with two tons of dynamite and the leaking nitroglycerin. When he returned to examine the results, Graves was confronted with the CO. Rattled, he told Graves he had knocked all the artillery pieces out of kilter because they were all zeroed in.

"About that time this sergeant walks up, madder than a wet hen," Graves said, laughing. "He asked what the hell was going on? When I began to explain, I recognized the sergeant as Howard Smith from Midland."

Smith was crossing the bridge when the explosion was set off, and he thought the bridge was blowing, according to Graves. "We both had a good laugh over it, and parted friends."

The day he had left for duty in Europe, Graves decided he would never be broke and took with him an American dollar bill. He wrote across the face of it every country he entered during the war. In his own pen are the words, Scotland, England, France, Belgium, Luxembourg, Austria, Germany.

"As I look back," Graves said, "an angel was sitting on my shoulder, guiding me. If the job didnt feel right, Id simply blow up the bomb or whatever. If anybody objected, all I would say was, You do it because I want to live. I always got my way."

Among the numerous medals and citations awarded Graves was the Award of Bronze Star Medal. The citation used, for rationale, were words such as, "distinguished himself," "by meritorious achievement," "high example of leadership and resourcefulness," "frequently exposed to enemy fire," "pulled ammunition away from burning trucks." It was signed by Lt. Col. Walter E. Foray, commanding officer of the U.S. Ordinance Department.

While Graves endured many adventures not known to most Americans, his greatest thrill was standing on the deck of a ship as it sailed into New York Harbor and passed the Statue of Liberty in September 1945. He was home.